Robert Benton death: Oscar-winning director of Kramer vs. Kramer dies aged 92

Benton also collaborated on the screenplay for ‘Bonnie and Clyde’

Robert Benton has died at the age of 92 (Getty)

Robert Benton, best known for writing and directing the 1979 Best Picture Oscar winner Kramer vs. Kramer, has died aged 92.

Benton’s son, John Benton, said that he died Sunday at his home in Manhattan of “natural causes.”

A three-time Oscar winner, Benton won trophies for his writing and directing work on Kramer vs. Kramer. His third Oscar came from his screenplay for the 1985 film Places in the Heart, which he also directed.

Benton worked with dozens of powerhouse actors, several of whom won Oscars starring in a film he directed. Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep each took home acting Oscars for their work on Kramer vs. Kramer, while Sally Field won her trophy for Places in the Heart.

In addition to Kramer vs. Kramer, Benton collaborated with David Newman on the Oscar-nominated screenplay for Bonnie and Clyde, a film that redefined American cinema in the 1960s. The two crossed paths while Benton was an art director at Esquire magazine, where Newman previously worked.

Their partnership continued with the 1970 film There Was a Crooked Man and 1972’s What’s Up, Doc?. The duo also contributed to 1972’s Oh Calcutta! and the 1978 hit Superman.

Meryl Streep and Dustin Hoffman in ‘Kramer vs. Kramer’ (Columbia Pictures)

Benton was born in Waxahachie, Texas, outside of Dallas. He owed his early love for movies to his father, telephone company employee Ellery Douglass Benton, who, instead of asking about homework, would take his family to the picture shows. The elder Benton would also share memories of attending the funerals of outlaws Barrow and Parker, Texas natives who grew up in the Dallas area.

Benton studied at the University of Texas and Columbia University, then served in the U.S. Army from 1954 until 1956. While at Esquire, Benton helped start the magazine’s long-standing Dubious Achievement Award and dated Gloria Steinem, then on staff at the humor magazine Help! He married artist Sallie Rendigs in 1964. They had one son.

Between hits, Benton often endured long dry spells. His latter films included such disappointments as the thrillers Billy Bathgate, The Human Stain and Twilight. He had much more success with Nobody’s Fool, a wry comedy released in 1994 and starring Paul Newman, in his last Oscar-nominated performance, as a small-town troublemaker in upstate New York. Benton, whose film was based on Russo’s novel, was nominated for best adapted screenplay.

“Somebody asked me once when the Academy Award nominations came out and I’d been nominated, ‘What’s the great thing about the Academy Awards?’” Benton told Venice magazine in 1998. “I said ‘When you go to the awards and you see people, some of whom you’ve had bitter fights with, some of whom you’re close friends with, some people you haven’t seen in ten years, some people you just saw two days before — it’s your family.’ It’s home. And home is what I’ve spent my life looking for.”

Additional reporting by The Associated Press